Hi everyone just registered and have read all of the information in the archives on Bonefish in Aruba. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the previous threads on the subject I feel I have been armed with very good information. This will be our 3rd time back and my first time to take the Fly rod. I am hoping to see some next week when I'm down there and take a shot at one as I have never fly fished in saltwater much less for bones. I am planning on heading to malmok and fish around the wreck with the flies everyone has mentioned.

Are the charlies and gotchas in a size 6 to big? I have a couple in size 8 but most of the ones I have found were 6 or bigger.

Any last tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I will be sure and post any results when I return.

Thanks...Jeff :)

SteelBoneguy

05-06-2005, 08:16 AM

I think your flies sizes will be fine. Tan w/ sparkle gotchas, charlies, clousers will work great, my first trip I was there I had the most luck with the bonefish scampi fly. Bring 10, 12 and 15lb flurocarbon tippet as there are big marl/coral rocks all over and will help you put more pressure on the fish. Don't sleep in get out there EARLY, walk the beach and look for tailing. Also I'd bring some poppers and wire and fish up north, just south of the light house for some big cuddas and jacks. Wish you luck and I hope you hook up. :cool: In your wading boots where socks helps prevent blisters. OH you better give us a report when you get back!!

jeffm

05-07-2005, 09:34 AM

Thanks Steel I am going with 10, 12 and 16 LB leaders so I should be covered. How far south of the Lighthouse should I go for the cudas? Is there a landmark I can use to zero in on the area?

I will be sure and post when I get back.

Thanks...Jeff

juro

05-07-2005, 09:56 AM

There is a huge bar extending near the base of the lighthouse. I prefer low or outgoing tide to get out further as the waves break over it and it's rocky. It's a good spot to find big fish, jacks and cuda etc. Who knows maybe even a wandering wahoo!

The bones are nomadic IMHO. They are all over the place one day and MIA the next. You need to cover a lot of water and use the off hours when they are sneaking around and tailing.

Don't use a heavy weighted fly when they are tailing in shallow water, and have faith that they will move for your fly.

I had the best luck with a lightly weighted fly over the coral at Malmok, but down at Barcadero near the Balashi plant at the boat ramps the locals use I would opt for a very lightly weighted fly to fish the off hours on that sand flat especially on a rising tide. The fish are very spooky there but it's the most like bonefishing on other islands there.

My tactic at malmok was to see the fish between the waves, then cast into the turbulence of the wave ahead of them so they did not see the splash. As the fly sank it would encounter the fish and a short strip later you're off to the races. Get that rod tip up high as they will cut you off on the coral in a heartbeat. Don't think it's a cuda just because you get cut off... those ghostly green/grey fish with the deeply forked tails are bonefish not cuda. I've had them try to rub off the fly on sand in the Bahamas where the pure white sand did no harm, but this tactic on coral is an instant escape trick. If you are lucky these nomads will surround you like they did me one morning so you can get a couple in. I landed two there that morning but lost twice as many on coral.

Also, it's a long ride to Baby Beach to fish the morning hours try the evening hours instead. There is a lot of shallow water around the beach but during the day it's extrememly crowded and unfishable. Just to the north there is a huge oceanside bowl where I did well on Jack crevalle, wow what a fight. Cuda were there as well.

Looking at the wreck from the closest point there is a shallow "flat" if you could call it that to the left and a coral shelf to the right. I saw more fish hunting the shelf during the day and more fish working the 'flat' during the evening and morning hours.

Basically if you walk the beaches and keep a sharp eye on the first 20 feet from shore in the early morning light you will see bones anywhere from Eagle Beach north during the off hours.

Good luck and I hope you pass the test to become a member of the Aruba Bonefish Club :chuckle:

jeffm

05-08-2005, 08:01 AM

Thanks Juro heck I thought if one was persistent enough to attempt to catch bones on the fly in Aruba was good enough to qualify for membership :chuckle:

Anyway, I will be staying at the Wyndham so I am planning on going to Malmok but maybe I could go south toward Eagle beach and try that if I can't get up to Malmok. We usually don't rent a car so I will probably take a cab up to Malamok it would be quite a trek if I walked it. Might have tried it in 2002 when we were at the Marriott.

Just a few more days to go!

SteelBoneguy

05-11-2005, 08:20 AM

Wow Juro you know your islands! Juro said it best, and gave great advice. I really hope you hook up, wish ya luck and when you hook up keep that rod up high!. Better give us a report when you get back.

arubaman

05-13-2005, 12:44 PM

Well folks,
Jeff kept up with his promise and went out very early in the morning. I think he's doing a great effort so if I am to decide it's a new member of the Bonefish Club. I happen to be on the island at the moment and was out at malmok early. I am running practice at the local vet's for my study, so I don't have a lot of time. I fish from 5.45 am till around 7 am. But topday I saw another fly fisherman preparing for the bones. I walked up to him had a talk and then he asked me if I happened to be Arubaman. Indeed surprised! :Eyecrazy:
I don't know the phonenumber of my parents, but it's the turtle hotline number so I told him he should give me a call, maybe we can join forces this weekend.

Bonefishing is not very good at the moment. I had one on the hook monday. Lost it after three runs on the fourth run (i finally got a bit of fly line back on the reel and then lost it!). He cut himself loose on the rocks after 5 or maybe 10 minutes of fighting. Furthermore I have only seen one other bonefish, this one was at the Barcadera reef, but as the winds are very very though these days (25-30knots) I couldn't reach it with my poor casting abilities.
Maybe this weekend when I have a little more time and maybe even with Jeff if he gives me a call. We'll see, if I fail here, I still know Bonaire will be up within a week or 2! :lildevl:
Ciao, Arubaman

arubaman

05-15-2005, 08:53 PM

HELP ME!

:Eyecrazy: :confused: :eek:
Oh my oh my.... I went out to the water today with my mom and as I had some suspicions about Tarpon being around at some places we went to check it out. It took a lot of sweat, even more mosquito bites and we had some real nice fun together. But the final conclusion to me would be that there are Tarpons in the waters of Aruba. :eek: So now discovering these nice fish, we were cruising around a bit, I saw some surface motion and saw a fin, I was sure it was Tarpon, it took a little longer before my mom really beleived me and she now also believes it can really be Tarpon.

So what I need now is a lot of advice and even more luck. How do I get one of these nice and rumoured fishes hooked on my rod? For example when do they feed? And how would you recognize that. What kind of fly? These fish are (I estimate) between 2 and 3 feet long, maybe some a little bigger, 4 feet maximum.
I casted my .... off today, but no reaction. So I wondered do you have to strip fast? or slowly? or just happen to be there when their showing feeding behaviour?

So get behind those computers and help me out, I think I can be one of the first people on the island to flyfish and catch a Tarpon and every piece of wisdom I get will be very very welcome, in the end I will make a conclusive story so other fishermen also can have their advantages.
Thanks, Arubaman

juro

05-15-2005, 10:05 PM

That's neat you ran into Jeff. Just goes to show how rare us ABC members are!

It's well known that there are tarpon around Spanish Lagoon, etc - but without a boat it would be tough to get shots at them. Cast to the edges or ahead of their path and strip it away when they are to close to resist.

Get pictures!

SteelBoneguy

05-16-2005, 09:42 AM

The guides I have flyfished for tarpon say cast well ahead do one long slow strip to get the slack out, then let the fly sink to their level. When the fish start to get close do lonnng slow strips, nothing fast. In the keys staying at a condo with a ocean canal outback we were fishing at the back end of condo. I was on a small dock my brother was on the sea wall when he spotted a big fish he casted and he was doing quick fast strips he then saw that it was a tarpon. I yelled slow down those strips! big long slow strips now! Two strips later he hooked up, unfortnately he wasn't rigged for a 50lb fish and busted off shortly after :( but we will always remember that fish. That tarpon took a size Chrt/wht clouser. There is tons of poon flies out there. I really hope you hook up. That would be absolutely Awesome! :) Use the biggest weight rod you got, your going to need it. I would research also how to rig your leader.

arubaman

05-16-2005, 12:29 PM

Thanks allready for the info, still could use more info on it, for example the leader. Luckely I brought a Wt 10 rod with me next to the Wt8 I was going to use for Bones. At the moment the weather finally changed from very windy to peaceful. This morning I went out to Malmok and met Jeff again. The pitty was I had to be at the veterinary clinic at 8 AM for my practice and now have lunchbreak but during the week won't have time between 8 am and about 6 pm.
He really had a chance today i think, tide was high, sun shining just right and not so choppy water (not much wind). He saw a guy from Chile getting a big hook up at Malmok past Saturday. They were fishing together and blind casting. I spoke the Chile guy as well (I think his name was Francisco). He told me it was a very strong bone, but the leader broke behind a rock at the second run.

Well, I will try and do my best. Haven't seen much fish yet, but the Tarpon in the Spanish Lagoon are there, that's for sure. I have some pictures of the lagoon if anybody's interested. Also of the other places. No pictures with free or caught fish yet, but will do my best to at least land a Bone before I leave and maybe a Baby tarpon.

So any more info is still very very welcome and does somebody know a maximum of pictures in a topic? I can place some to give all you fishermen an impression.

Ciao, Arubaman

ps. current set for Tarpon is a wt 10 rod, 0x fluoro-carbon tippet (20 lbs) with a small steal wire at the end. 30lbs backing of 240 meters. I hope it will be strong enough, I will make a picture of the flies I have, don't know if there are any good ones with it.

SteelBoneguy

05-16-2005, 03:12 PM

You may want to do a google search on leaders for tarpon, or rigging leaders for tarpon. You do not need a steel leader, and my thinking is the tarpon won't eat a fly w/ a steel leader attached (I'm no pro by any means). The guide I was using, had 60lb. shock tippet for tarpon. Tarpon do not have sharp teeth, but there mouths are like sand paper, and there gill plates are really sharp. I'm going to try and send you a PM arubaman.

massbassshore

07-15-2005, 12:01 AM

Going to Aruba 7/23-7/30. Plan on walking Eagle North from La Cabana early in trip. Then possibly go to wreck and near windsurf area as a spin guy from Mass Bass has had luck in these areas throwing small bucktail jigs for Bones.

Any other thought about this area? I also plan on throwing some small crab and shrimp imitations. Also will have spin gear to see if I can cast for anything else. I am not too picky, just want to be on the water between 6AM and 9 AM daily with my friend Bill while aour wives sleep. After getting in a few hours fishing the rest of the day is a breeze.